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THE FACTORY REPORT.
198
provide one for bodies taken from the river and docks, the barest shelter was all that they could be expected to give. The parochial authorities cleaned the place ,periodically, and paid for the gas and water, not because they were bound to do so, but because of "precedence." The City Council asserted that the Dock Board were bound to do what the Dock Committee had done before, which included all connected with the deadhouse or mortuary. It was an apt illustration of how not to do it-a veritable proof that what was evervbody’s business was nobody’s business. And so for nearly sixteen years past dead bodies have been taken to a wretched shed, inquest juries have been taken there, and necropsies made-often in most important medico-legal cases—in spite of reason, remonstrances, and complaints ad nauseam. Meanwhile the Public Health Act was passed in 1875, which would appear to make it compulsory upon the local authority (i.e., the urban sanitary authority ahas the Health Committee of the City Council) to provide a mortuary ; and the clause empowered them, though not to
compulsorily, 143). As
to
provide pointed
a
post-mortem
room
(clauses 141,
local daily paper, the local authority could be required by the Local Government Board to provide a mortuary, which is defined to be "a for the reception of dead bodies before interment." The possible appearance of a Local Government Board inspector upon the scene would seem to have produced some effect. It may have been a .coincidence. But at any rate, it was resolved, after much discussion, that a new mortuary should be erected near the site of the present one, at the joint expense of the - City Council and Dock Board, each also paying half the cost of maintenance. The new building comprises four separate compartments. It is built of red brick with red stone facings, the greater part being lined inside with yellow and brown glazed Ruabon giving a pleasing appearance, as well as being clean and easily washed. There are three doors of entrance, and over the central one is the word "Mortuary" cut in stone. To the right of this is a door leading to a vestibule running the whole length of the building. This vestibule is roofed in, well lighted and ventilated, and having on its inner side .a glazed partition, through which is obtained an excellent view ,of the next chamber, or mortuary proper. This is also well lighted and ventilated with five separate sloping slabs, the floor being so arranged that all wet will flow into a channel continuous with an open trapped drain. The slabs are so arranged that an excellent view can be had of each body through the glass partition of the vestibule. Each slab being separate will enable anyone to get all round it, a ,great improvement on one large slab, which is inconvenient to everybody. The third entrance leads into an ante-room containing a fireplace, with boiler, for the supply of hot water to the post-mortem room, as well as lavatory, lock-up cupboards, and shelves for the safe custody of viscera, &c. Passing through the inner door we come to the post-mortem room, which has a separate roof of its own, as required by the Act, and is quite separate from the mortuary proper. It is lined throughout with glazed bricks, has a tiled floor, central post-mortem table, fireplace, sink with hot and cold water laid on, slab for scales and weights, and desk for note-taking. The table is of slate, with slope downwards from the centre to each end, and brass drainage holes at each corner, from which run four pipes to the central pedestal of glazed bricks, to discharge into an open drain trap, into which the sink .also discharges. The greatest care has been taken with all the drainage, the pipes for which have been specially made by Messrs. Doulton. The whole work reflects the greatest credit upon Mr. Berrington, the architect to the Dock Board, who has taken pains to ensure the thorough completion of the work with all the most recent improvements. The building is now quite complete, and Dr. Taylor, the medical officer of health, is making arrangements at the request of the Health Committee for its future management. It will still be in charge of the police, who are relieved every eight hours; but there will be in addition an official who will assist at post-mortem examinations and perform other necessary duties which it would be unreasonable to expect policemen to do except at greatly increased pay. Liverpool has possessed a central coroner’s court for many years past, and it would tax the memory of the oldest inhabitant to call to mind an inquest held in a publichouse. When a regular court cannot be secured, some was
proper place
bricks,
out in
a
can be had temporarily. Mortuaries necessary than coroners’ courts. A landlord who might be willing enough to let the bar parlour for an inquest will positively refuse to take in a dead body, even in any of the out-houses. Bodies which are the property of the coroner must be deposited in a suitable place where a post-mortem examination, if required, can be made without offence to anyone. What has been done in Liverpool should be an encouragement to those who are endeavouring to establish mortuaries elsewhere. It is hardly likely that the same difficulties will be encountered, since the circumstances were somewhat exceptional. If any doubt exists as to the meaning of the words in Clause 141 of the Public Health Act previously quoted, this should be set at rest by an appeal to the Local Government Board. It will be remembered that in the Whitechapel murders Mr. Phillips complained greatly of the place where he had to make the necropsies of some of the victims. Wherever there is a wrong there is said to be a remedy, and this should be found at no matter what expenditure of time or money. Great credit is due to Mr. F. W. Lowndes, surgeon to the Liverpool police, for his unceasing and finally successful efforts in procuring adequate mortuary accommodation for
suitable
building
are even more
Liverpool.
__
THE FACTORY REPORT. THE report of the chief factory inspector for the year ending with the month of October, 1889, records increased activity in most of the important industries which come under his observation, and, as a consequence, some increase in the number of accidents which he has to report. It would seem, however, that, little by little, improved conditions are being established, both in respect of the sanitary conditions under which work is carried on and the precautions adopted to prevent accidents resulting from the operation of machinery. As bearing upon the former of these points, attention is drawn in the present report to what seems to be a very important and very simple improvement in the art of weaving. It is well known that the air of weaving sheds has to be kept moist in order to prevent the development of charges of electricity upon various parts of the swiftly moving machinery. The most obvious, and at the present time the almost universal, way of obtaining this effect is by discharging steam into the atmosphere. The condensation of the water vapour moistens the atmosphere, thus rendering it sufficiently conductive of electricity to prevent the formation of mischievous charges at any points. The obvious consequence of thus loading the atmosphere with heated water is to raise the temperature, and to cause everything exposed to it, and especially the worker’s clothing, to be saturated with moisture. It is not difficult to understand that such conditions prove to be in the highest degree prejudicial to the workers’ health. The new method, which is said to have been successfully tried in a factory at Belfast, consists in substituting for steam the condensed vapour arising from a cooling reservoir. This vapour-or rather, as we presume, the air carrying it-is fed into the weaving shed by means of a fan, and has the effect not of heating but of cooling the temperature of the building. It is said to be more economical than steam, as it amounts to the employment of a waste product; and we hope that this is correct, since, if so, that circumstance will greatly facilitate the general adoption of the new plan. Theoretically, nothing can be better or better adapted to its purpose than the agent now proposed. For rendering air conductive of high-tension electricity nothing more is necessary than that it should contain water vapour at the point of saturation. Whether the temperature be higher or lower does not in the least matter; but, on the other hand, the quantity of water vapour which will produce saturation in a given quantity of air at one temperature will be short of saturation at a higher temperature, and lience air which has been in contact with water at any given temperature becomes super-saturated in the course and by the fact of cooling. This is the principle of which apparently the new invention is an adaptation, and it is plain that by carefully adjusting the temperature of the air drawn off from the cooler the
199 inventor will be able to provide an atmosphere which will be saturated when in contact with the cool surfaces of the machinery, but perfectly dry when in contact with the Hence it will conduct away warm bodies of workpeople. the accumulating electricity, but will not deposit moisture in the workman’s or workwoman’s clothes. In other words, it is over again the familiar phenomenon of the sittingroom atmosphere, which is perfectly dry to the skin, but deposits streams of water on the windows. In this domestic experiment the source of the moisture is generally to be found in the exhalations from the bodies of persons assembled in an overcrowded room, and consequently it goes hand in hand with imperfect ventilation, and often with overheating; but there is no reason why the same hygrometric conditions should not accompany pure air and a wholesome and pleasant temperature.
THE
CHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF PHOSPHOROUS OXIDE.
of phosphorous oxide is obtained. The odour, moreover,, is identical with that of phosphorous oxide, and also with the peculiar smell that invariably accompanies the makingand handling of the composition used for match-tipping. Under these circumstances, it is extremely probable that Prof. Thorpe pure phosphorus possesses no smell at all. and his colleague are to be congratulated on the interesting and important results they have obtained, both practical and theoretical. Chemists, at least, will not fail to. recognise the fact that much valuable and useful information has been added to their storehouse of knowledge.
THE ROYAL EDINBURGH ASYLUM.
TIlE commemoration stone of the new department of this. asylum at Craig House was laid on the 16th inst. by the Earl of Stair, deputy governor, in the presence of a large and representative gathering. The clergy, the University, the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, the Lunacy Board, and many public bodies in the city were represented, while the majority of the Scotch asylum physicians and superintendents were present, this addition to its. mental hospitals being regarded as an important event in Scotland. The new institution is for 150 of the richer class of patients, and is, when completed, to take the place of the. old East House opened in 1813. Great pains have been taken to make the plans fulfil all the modern requirements for such a hospital, and to lead the way in many respects. There are eight central wards and six villas, two of whichare small hospitals. Lord Stair gave a sketch of the history of the institution since the inception of the idea of such a building in 1792 by Dr. Andrew Duncan and the College of Physicians. The insanity of the poet Ferguson, and the absence of any proper means of treatment, first suggested the idea toDr. Duncan. Sir Douglas Maclagan, President of the Medical Board, said, " It was a most interesting thing to observe that from the beginning of the institution up to the present time it had maintained the same broad constitution, that both the more affluent and the poor classes should be looked after, and that, by a wise adjustment of the means, what was. won from the treatment of the affluent should be applied to. diminish the expense to the poor. Everything in the institution was tinged with the colour of philanthropy." He spoke eloquently on the influence of art and beauty on bodily and mental ailments. " Art, as developed in such a. building as that, in its architecture and in its pleasant site, was itself not merely a help to the doctor, but a medicine of the most valuable kind." Dr. Clouston spoke on the medical aspect of insanity, showing that science must rid the public mind, as it had rid the medical mind, of its outrageous and hurtful prejudices. and its feelings of repulsion in regard to mental disorder. Science knew nothing of repulsion in regard to what was to benefit humanity. Nothing to it was common or unclean. Some of the greatest triumphs of medicine had consisted in attacking problems previously repulsive to ordinary humanity, and in rendering them of the keenest interest to mankind. The prejudices that now so often add to the pain of mental disease, in the case of the sufferers and their relatives, were not worthy of our civilisation and must be got rid of. He trusted New Craig House would help to take away this reproach, and he believed that it would take its place as one of the great medical and philanthropic institutions of Edinburgh. The institution is to cost about £70,000, not including the price of the site, which is £30,000 in addition. The President of the College of Physicians, Professor Grainger Stewart, and Professor Chiene also spoke.
THE June number of the Chemical Society’s Journal contains a full account of the recent research on phosphorous oxide which has been carried out jointly by Professor Thorpe and Mr. A. E. Sutton, of the Normal School of Science, South Kensington. It is a noteworthy fact that it is seldom that an inquiry into the nature of well-known inorganic elements results in the full confirmation of the characters which have usually been assigned to the subOn the contrary, in many stance experimented with. instances surprising results are often obtained, inasmuch as properties are frequently discovered which are found to be of a nature entirely new and opposite to those which are described in the text-books. This in a measure is probably due to the circumstance that investigators have of late years devoted their time chiefly to the fascinating and fashionable field of organic chemistry. The authors have in the present research obtained phosphorous oxide by the slow combustion of phosphorus in an apparatus of special construction. So prepared, it is described as a white wax-like solid, which melts at 22 ’5° C. toaclear, colonrless, and mobile liquid, resolidifying at 21° and boiling at 173.1° C. The formula as deduced from the vapour density and Raoult’s recent method is P{06’ thus exhibiting perfect analogy to arsenious and antimonious oxide, AS4O6 and Sb4O6 respectively. At high temperatures it is resolved into tetroxide and free phosphorus. Sunlight changes it to orange yellow, and ultimately dark red; the exact chemical nature of these changes has not yet been investigated. More interesting is the action of water, alkalies, alcohol, &c., upon it. Phosphorous oxide slowly dissolves in water, and in afew days forms a solution of phosphorous acid. Most text-books describe the oxide as possessing a strong affinity for water, so much so that it combines with it with such violence that a hissing sound is produced, as with a red-hot iron. With hot water, on the contrary, the reaction is very energetic, red phosphorus, the suboxide, spontaneously inflammable phosphoretted hydrogen, and phosphoric acid being violently produced. Cold alkalies, such as caustic potass, act similarly to cold water, resulting in the gradual formation of phosphite of potassium. Hot alkalies act like hot water, phosphate and phosphoretted hydrogen being formed. Phosphorous oxide ignites in contact with alcohol, forming diethylphosphorous acid. As would be expected, it readily oxidises to thepentoxide on exposure to air or oxygen. Under diminished pressure oxidation is accompanied by a luminous glow, which is instantly stopped when the pressure is restored. Ozone is not formed. The melted oxide readily ignites in the air. Finally, phosphorous oxide has a well-marked physiological en’ect, and the authors think that the influence of phosphorus on the glycogenic functions of the liver and on tissue change may not improbably be due to this substance. It is known that caries is produced in those persons engaged in match THE LUNACY COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. factories only when exposed to the fumes, for Dr. Lauder Brunton has found that when the bone of an animal fed by THE report of the Lunacy Commissioners is this year phosphorus is exposed to the air no carious change takes place; but when it ia exposed to the fumes caries is pro- largely occupied with a discussion of the effect of recent duced. And, further, it has been noticed amongst match- legislation upon the work of their department. It seems to making people that only those who have carious teeth us that the Commissioners a little overestimate the public suffer from necrosis of the jaw. This may possibly be importance of this aspect of their theme. They point out explained by the fact that the fumes from phosphorus that the additional reports for which the Act of last year consist largely of phosphorous oxide, for by merely drawing provides will entail a large increase in the clerical work air over phosphorus a deposit possessing all the characters which has to be transacted in their office, and will
provide one for bodies taken from the river and docks, the barest shelter was all that they could be expected to give. The parochial authorities cleaned the place ,periodically, and paid for the gas and water, not because they were bound to do so, but because of "precedence." The City Council asserted that the Dock Board were bound to do what the Dock Committee had done before, which included all connected with the deadhouse or mortuary. It was an apt illustration of how not to do it-a veritable proof that what was evervbody’s business was nobody’s business. And so for nearly sixteen years past dead bodies have been taken to a wretched shed, inquest juries have been taken there, and necropsies made-often in most important medico-legal cases—in spite of reason, remonstrances, and complaints ad nauseam. Meanwhile the Public Health Act was passed in 1875, which would appear to make it compulsory upon the local authority (i.e., the urban sanitary authority ahas the Health Committee of the City Council) to provide a mortuary ; and the clause empowered them, though not to
compulsorily, 143). As
to
provide pointed
a
post-mortem
room
(clauses 141,
local daily paper, the local authority could be required by the Local Government Board to provide a mortuary, which is defined to be "a for the reception of dead bodies before interment." The possible appearance of a Local Government Board inspector upon the scene would seem to have produced some effect. It may have been a .coincidence. But at any rate, it was resolved, after much discussion, that a new mortuary should be erected near the site of the present one, at the joint expense of the - City Council and Dock Board, each also paying half the cost of maintenance. The new building comprises four separate compartments. It is built of red brick with red stone facings, the greater part being lined inside with yellow and brown glazed Ruabon giving a pleasing appearance, as well as being clean and easily washed. There are three doors of entrance, and over the central one is the word "Mortuary" cut in stone. To the right of this is a door leading to a vestibule running the whole length of the building. This vestibule is roofed in, well lighted and ventilated, and having on its inner side .a glazed partition, through which is obtained an excellent view ,of the next chamber, or mortuary proper. This is also well lighted and ventilated with five separate sloping slabs, the floor being so arranged that all wet will flow into a channel continuous with an open trapped drain. The slabs are so arranged that an excellent view can be had of each body through the glass partition of the vestibule. Each slab being separate will enable anyone to get all round it, a ,great improvement on one large slab, which is inconvenient to everybody. The third entrance leads into an ante-room containing a fireplace, with boiler, for the supply of hot water to the post-mortem room, as well as lavatory, lock-up cupboards, and shelves for the safe custody of viscera, &c. Passing through the inner door we come to the post-mortem room, which has a separate roof of its own, as required by the Act, and is quite separate from the mortuary proper. It is lined throughout with glazed bricks, has a tiled floor, central post-mortem table, fireplace, sink with hot and cold water laid on, slab for scales and weights, and desk for note-taking. The table is of slate, with slope downwards from the centre to each end, and brass drainage holes at each corner, from which run four pipes to the central pedestal of glazed bricks, to discharge into an open drain trap, into which the sink .also discharges. The greatest care has been taken with all the drainage, the pipes for which have been specially made by Messrs. Doulton. The whole work reflects the greatest credit upon Mr. Berrington, the architect to the Dock Board, who has taken pains to ensure the thorough completion of the work with all the most recent improvements. The building is now quite complete, and Dr. Taylor, the medical officer of health, is making arrangements at the request of the Health Committee for its future management. It will still be in charge of the police, who are relieved every eight hours; but there will be in addition an official who will assist at post-mortem examinations and perform other necessary duties which it would be unreasonable to expect policemen to do except at greatly increased pay. Liverpool has possessed a central coroner’s court for many years past, and it would tax the memory of the oldest inhabitant to call to mind an inquest held in a publichouse. When a regular court cannot be secured, some was
proper place
bricks,
out in
a
can be had temporarily. Mortuaries necessary than coroners’ courts. A landlord who might be willing enough to let the bar parlour for an inquest will positively refuse to take in a dead body, even in any of the out-houses. Bodies which are the property of the coroner must be deposited in a suitable place where a post-mortem examination, if required, can be made without offence to anyone. What has been done in Liverpool should be an encouragement to those who are endeavouring to establish mortuaries elsewhere. It is hardly likely that the same difficulties will be encountered, since the circumstances were somewhat exceptional. If any doubt exists as to the meaning of the words in Clause 141 of the Public Health Act previously quoted, this should be set at rest by an appeal to the Local Government Board. It will be remembered that in the Whitechapel murders Mr. Phillips complained greatly of the place where he had to make the necropsies of some of the victims. Wherever there is a wrong there is said to be a remedy, and this should be found at no matter what expenditure of time or money. Great credit is due to Mr. F. W. Lowndes, surgeon to the Liverpool police, for his unceasing and finally successful efforts in procuring adequate mortuary accommodation for
suitable
building
are even more
Liverpool.
__
THE FACTORY REPORT. THE report of the chief factory inspector for the year ending with the month of October, 1889, records increased activity in most of the important industries which come under his observation, and, as a consequence, some increase in the number of accidents which he has to report. It would seem, however, that, little by little, improved conditions are being established, both in respect of the sanitary conditions under which work is carried on and the precautions adopted to prevent accidents resulting from the operation of machinery. As bearing upon the former of these points, attention is drawn in the present report to what seems to be a very important and very simple improvement in the art of weaving. It is well known that the air of weaving sheds has to be kept moist in order to prevent the development of charges of electricity upon various parts of the swiftly moving machinery. The most obvious, and at the present time the almost universal, way of obtaining this effect is by discharging steam into the atmosphere. The condensation of the water vapour moistens the atmosphere, thus rendering it sufficiently conductive of electricity to prevent the formation of mischievous charges at any points. The obvious consequence of thus loading the atmosphere with heated water is to raise the temperature, and to cause everything exposed to it, and especially the worker’s clothing, to be saturated with moisture. It is not difficult to understand that such conditions prove to be in the highest degree prejudicial to the workers’ health. The new method, which is said to have been successfully tried in a factory at Belfast, consists in substituting for steam the condensed vapour arising from a cooling reservoir. This vapour-or rather, as we presume, the air carrying it-is fed into the weaving shed by means of a fan, and has the effect not of heating but of cooling the temperature of the building. It is said to be more economical than steam, as it amounts to the employment of a waste product; and we hope that this is correct, since, if so, that circumstance will greatly facilitate the general adoption of the new plan. Theoretically, nothing can be better or better adapted to its purpose than the agent now proposed. For rendering air conductive of high-tension electricity nothing more is necessary than that it should contain water vapour at the point of saturation. Whether the temperature be higher or lower does not in the least matter; but, on the other hand, the quantity of water vapour which will produce saturation in a given quantity of air at one temperature will be short of saturation at a higher temperature, and lience air which has been in contact with water at any given temperature becomes super-saturated in the course and by the fact of cooling. This is the principle of which apparently the new invention is an adaptation, and it is plain that by carefully adjusting the temperature of the air drawn off from the cooler the
199 inventor will be able to provide an atmosphere which will be saturated when in contact with the cool surfaces of the machinery, but perfectly dry when in contact with the Hence it will conduct away warm bodies of workpeople. the accumulating electricity, but will not deposit moisture in the workman’s or workwoman’s clothes. In other words, it is over again the familiar phenomenon of the sittingroom atmosphere, which is perfectly dry to the skin, but deposits streams of water on the windows. In this domestic experiment the source of the moisture is generally to be found in the exhalations from the bodies of persons assembled in an overcrowded room, and consequently it goes hand in hand with imperfect ventilation, and often with overheating; but there is no reason why the same hygrometric conditions should not accompany pure air and a wholesome and pleasant temperature.
THE
CHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF PHOSPHOROUS OXIDE.
of phosphorous oxide is obtained. The odour, moreover,, is identical with that of phosphorous oxide, and also with the peculiar smell that invariably accompanies the makingand handling of the composition used for match-tipping. Under these circumstances, it is extremely probable that Prof. Thorpe pure phosphorus possesses no smell at all. and his colleague are to be congratulated on the interesting and important results they have obtained, both practical and theoretical. Chemists, at least, will not fail to. recognise the fact that much valuable and useful information has been added to their storehouse of knowledge.
THE ROYAL EDINBURGH ASYLUM.
TIlE commemoration stone of the new department of this. asylum at Craig House was laid on the 16th inst. by the Earl of Stair, deputy governor, in the presence of a large and representative gathering. The clergy, the University, the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, the Lunacy Board, and many public bodies in the city were represented, while the majority of the Scotch asylum physicians and superintendents were present, this addition to its. mental hospitals being regarded as an important event in Scotland. The new institution is for 150 of the richer class of patients, and is, when completed, to take the place of the. old East House opened in 1813. Great pains have been taken to make the plans fulfil all the modern requirements for such a hospital, and to lead the way in many respects. There are eight central wards and six villas, two of whichare small hospitals. Lord Stair gave a sketch of the history of the institution since the inception of the idea of such a building in 1792 by Dr. Andrew Duncan and the College of Physicians. The insanity of the poet Ferguson, and the absence of any proper means of treatment, first suggested the idea toDr. Duncan. Sir Douglas Maclagan, President of the Medical Board, said, " It was a most interesting thing to observe that from the beginning of the institution up to the present time it had maintained the same broad constitution, that both the more affluent and the poor classes should be looked after, and that, by a wise adjustment of the means, what was. won from the treatment of the affluent should be applied to. diminish the expense to the poor. Everything in the institution was tinged with the colour of philanthropy." He spoke eloquently on the influence of art and beauty on bodily and mental ailments. " Art, as developed in such a. building as that, in its architecture and in its pleasant site, was itself not merely a help to the doctor, but a medicine of the most valuable kind." Dr. Clouston spoke on the medical aspect of insanity, showing that science must rid the public mind, as it had rid the medical mind, of its outrageous and hurtful prejudices. and its feelings of repulsion in regard to mental disorder. Science knew nothing of repulsion in regard to what was to benefit humanity. Nothing to it was common or unclean. Some of the greatest triumphs of medicine had consisted in attacking problems previously repulsive to ordinary humanity, and in rendering them of the keenest interest to mankind. The prejudices that now so often add to the pain of mental disease, in the case of the sufferers and their relatives, were not worthy of our civilisation and must be got rid of. He trusted New Craig House would help to take away this reproach, and he believed that it would take its place as one of the great medical and philanthropic institutions of Edinburgh. The institution is to cost about £70,000, not including the price of the site, which is £30,000 in addition. The President of the College of Physicians, Professor Grainger Stewart, and Professor Chiene also spoke.
THE June number of the Chemical Society’s Journal contains a full account of the recent research on phosphorous oxide which has been carried out jointly by Professor Thorpe and Mr. A. E. Sutton, of the Normal School of Science, South Kensington. It is a noteworthy fact that it is seldom that an inquiry into the nature of well-known inorganic elements results in the full confirmation of the characters which have usually been assigned to the subOn the contrary, in many stance experimented with. instances surprising results are often obtained, inasmuch as properties are frequently discovered which are found to be of a nature entirely new and opposite to those which are described in the text-books. This in a measure is probably due to the circumstance that investigators have of late years devoted their time chiefly to the fascinating and fashionable field of organic chemistry. The authors have in the present research obtained phosphorous oxide by the slow combustion of phosphorus in an apparatus of special construction. So prepared, it is described as a white wax-like solid, which melts at 22 ’5° C. toaclear, colonrless, and mobile liquid, resolidifying at 21° and boiling at 173.1° C. The formula as deduced from the vapour density and Raoult’s recent method is P{06’ thus exhibiting perfect analogy to arsenious and antimonious oxide, AS4O6 and Sb4O6 respectively. At high temperatures it is resolved into tetroxide and free phosphorus. Sunlight changes it to orange yellow, and ultimately dark red; the exact chemical nature of these changes has not yet been investigated. More interesting is the action of water, alkalies, alcohol, &c., upon it. Phosphorous oxide slowly dissolves in water, and in afew days forms a solution of phosphorous acid. Most text-books describe the oxide as possessing a strong affinity for water, so much so that it combines with it with such violence that a hissing sound is produced, as with a red-hot iron. With hot water, on the contrary, the reaction is very energetic, red phosphorus, the suboxide, spontaneously inflammable phosphoretted hydrogen, and phosphoric acid being violently produced. Cold alkalies, such as caustic potass, act similarly to cold water, resulting in the gradual formation of phosphite of potassium. Hot alkalies act like hot water, phosphate and phosphoretted hydrogen being formed. Phosphorous oxide ignites in contact with alcohol, forming diethylphosphorous acid. As would be expected, it readily oxidises to thepentoxide on exposure to air or oxygen. Under diminished pressure oxidation is accompanied by a luminous glow, which is instantly stopped when the pressure is restored. Ozone is not formed. The melted oxide readily ignites in the air. Finally, phosphorous oxide has a well-marked physiological en’ect, and the authors think that the influence of phosphorus on the glycogenic functions of the liver and on tissue change may not improbably be due to this substance. It is known that caries is produced in those persons engaged in match THE LUNACY COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. factories only when exposed to the fumes, for Dr. Lauder Brunton has found that when the bone of an animal fed by THE report of the Lunacy Commissioners is this year phosphorus is exposed to the air no carious change takes place; but when it ia exposed to the fumes caries is pro- largely occupied with a discussion of the effect of recent duced. And, further, it has been noticed amongst match- legislation upon the work of their department. It seems to making people that only those who have carious teeth us that the Commissioners a little overestimate the public suffer from necrosis of the jaw. This may possibly be importance of this aspect of their theme. They point out explained by the fact that the fumes from phosphorus that the additional reports for which the Act of last year consist largely of phosphorous oxide, for by merely drawing provides will entail a large increase in the clerical work air over phosphorus a deposit possessing all the characters which has to be transacted in their office, and will